Condemnation

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death(Rom 8:1)

As a believer of Jesus, we should know that there’s no more condemnation for us. Jesus came not to condemn us for our sin, to make us feel guilty and sorry but to give us an abundant life. But that’s not my focus on this writing. I’m moved to write about condemnation in Christianity. I found that Christ’s disciples are not following His example for this condemnation matters. I found that there’s no condemnation in Christ but there’s bunch of condemnation in Christ’s followers behavior.

I take Joel Osteen case for example. He once made a mistake in a national US TV Show by saying he’s not sure if Jesus is the only way to salvation. Since then, people started to condemn him, judge him, questioning his life. Even his newest book (every day is Friday) is also criticized because it doesn’t take Sunday as the day of example. I mean seriously people? Have you been PERFECT in life?

I witnessed many people condemned by Christians. People who commit failures usually become the victim of condemnation. I often saw a friend’s facebook status, he condemned and criticized every little thing a Christian does, and proclaiming that to be God’s disciple you have to be right every day, you have to study the bible in a perfect way. Yes you are right if you live in the old covenant time. But now, by grace, we don’t need to perform to look good for God, He already loved us the way we are.

And about Christians who condemned Non-Christians? I saw it too many times. People judge stupid behavior that comes out of a person because of his/her RELIGION instead of CHARACTER. Religion and Character don’t match! You can be extremely spiritual but your character is still bad.

Why Christians have to be exclusive and condemning? I thought it was clearly written on the Bible that all the good things that we have come from God not from our performance?

You can’t preach what you don’t do. You can’t give without love. You can’t bring people to know Jesus with condemnation. God showed us how to love by not condemning us, why don't we follow after His example? :)

Stop condemning, stop judging, and start loving.

A verse to contemplate for us

1 Cor 13:1-3 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Be blessed

Good Deeds = Disadvantage?

Since I become quieter in person, I will dedicate all my words to blog :D

I want to share about good deeds. Have you ever done good deeds, but in the end it became a disadvantage for you? Have you ever be good/loyal/generous to people, but that people betrayed you?

Well I have. I experienced it a lot. I have a weakness regarding trust. I trusted people easily. I tend to ignore my feeling and judgment about people and stay positive about them. Unfortunately not all people are as good as I thought.

Back when I was lost, I always think that why bad things happened to good people? Why innocent people are indeed the one who got the suffering?

As time goes, I learned that good deeds will never be wasted. What comes around goes around. If you give love, you will be loved. If you give care, you will be cared. The principle is giving and receiving NOT take and give.

We often become disappointed because our good deeds don’t come back to us. The reply from the recipient of our good deeds don’t react the way we want/hope/expect. That’s actually why we feel good deeds are sometimes a disadvantage.

My friend, keep doing the right things. Stick to what you believe in. No matter how hard the world pressed you, you won’t be crushed.

Be generous in good deeds, be generous in forgiveness, and be generous with love.

Martin Luther - GRACE

"With Paul, we absolutely deny the possibility of self merit. God never yet gave to any person grace and everlasting life as a reward for merit...the true way of salvation is this: First, a person must realize that he’s a sinner, the kind of sinner who’s congenitally unable to do any good thing. "Whatsoever is not of faith, is sin." Those who seek to earn the grace of God by their own efforts are trying to please God with sins. They mock God, and provoke His anger. The first step on the way to salvation is to repent." (Martin Luther, Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians)

I want believe that there is another way.
I want to think that I am the exception to the rule.
I grasp at the thought that my righteousness is enough.
I hold to the hope that my behavior satisfies You.
I want to think that you judge me worthy.
It is my evaluation that I am capable of Your standard.
I want to hold onto my assessment that I am not like others,
I can plainly see that they offend Your law.
I get the fact that they fall short of Your glory.
I know very well that they can't stand before you.
But I still want to think that I am not like them.
I want to hold your Word and my righteousness at the same time.
I want to celebrate the Gospel and my worthiness together.
But it is a self-sufficient delusion.
It aggrandizes me and diminishes You.
It minimizes sin and devalues grace.
It asks the law to do what only grace can accomplish.
It denies the daily evidence of my sin.
It ignores the true condition of my heart.
It turns away from the sacrifice that you have made.
It omits the sovereign plan of your grace.
It forgets the desperate condition of my need.
And so I turn to what I know is true.
I am nothing without You.
I accept the invitation of Your grace.
I run to the sacrifice of the cross.
I cry for the help of Your spirit.
I accept the diagnosis of Your Word.
I trust the faithfulness of Your love.
I seek the forgiveness You alone can give.
And I reject the righteousness that is my own.

Fairness

Fairness. We all want it right? We all demanding it. When we don't treated fairly, we tend to angry, moan, whine, protest.
Me for instance. I got a fairness issue recently.
I've got a problem @ office, and I decided not to spread the news out even I'm the victim of that situation. Turns out, things went miserable. My expense documents are missing, my good name is ruined, and there are rumours and bad mouths about me. And I'm thinking where's fairness in this situation??
I contemplate and think a lot these few days. I pissed off, I'm angry, I wonder why these things happened.
But a tweet from a friend changed my point of view. He said life is unfair, deal with it!
And suddenly I got this insight about fairness. Yes, life is NOT FAIR.
Speak about fairness, think about the kids on the streets, abandoned by their parents. While there are many teenager doesn't realize how lucky they are to have lovely parents.
Speak about fairness, think about those who can't continue their study because they don't have the money. While there are students who don't want to study and hate being at school.
Speak about fairness, think about those who can't even see, while there are people who complaints all the time because they don't have the newest gadget.
Speak about fairness, think about those who picked trash for a living, while there are people who spend their money on useless things.
Life is indeed NOT FAIR. Live with that facts. Be thankful for who you are. You are rich, you can read my blog, you can own a computer, your life is way better than most people.
Cherish all you have now, cause you don't know when it will be gone.
Like counting crows said, you don't know what you got till it's gone.
Be blessed.